"If you see God, ask him why he stopped loving us."
I've been enamored with the works of author Stephen P. Keirnan since reading his debut novel The Curiosity, back in 2013. His sophomore novel The Hummingbird, showed his flexibility as an author and cemented his place as one of my "must reads." I was eager to get my hands on a copy of his latest work, The Baker's Secret, and I gladly jumped at the opportunity to read the advanced copy that his publisher provided. True to form, Kiernan managed to present another poignant and moving story that had me reading into all hours of the night.
The year is 1944 and Nazi Germany has invaded Normandy. Emmanuelle, Emma to everyone in her village, has been the apprentice to the town's baker for several years now. Her natural dexterity in the kitchen saw her become the baker's right-hand-man and even begin to surpass his expertise. The German occupation has not been kind to Emma. Her mentor was senselessly murdered in the town square by the Nazi's, and her father was imprisoned. Now Emma is left to run the bakery and care for her grandmother.
Emma's reputation as a master baker eventually gains the attention of the occupying army. They provide her with a meager supply of rations in exchange for daily loaves of freshly baked bread. Like clockwork, Emma's days become a ritual of servitude to the people who have destroyed her home. Amongst this dreary existence, a ray of hope begins to shine in the form of quiet resistance. Emma begins to supplement her flour with ground up wheat, allowing her to produce two extra loaves to feed her town. This subtle act of defiance ignites hope in the village. They begin to beleive that one day the allies will relieve them of this horrific occupation. But how long can Emma keep this up? If even one soldier suspects her of trickery, the entire town could pay the price. Can she maintain this opposition long enough for the justice to win out?
The Baker's Secret sees Stephen P. Kiernan write his most mature and emotionally satisfying novel to date. Unlike his previous works that shifted perspectives and time periods, this novel follows a straightforward narrative that allows for the nuanced development of the main character. The subject, specifically WWII, has been explored in countless other works of literature, but Kiernan brings a new angle to this tried and true genre. His background as a journalist allows him to effortlessly weave historical facts into his captivating fiction.
Emma is a character who is wrought with a wonderfully intriguing duality. On the one hand, her will to resist the Nazis and provide for her town makes her into a figure of hope in their eyes. At the same time, she faces heavy doubt that her village will ever be free again. This conflict of emotion drives the development of her character and highlights what must have been a common thought process to those facing the reign of the Nazi army. It is human nature to resist oppression, even if that resistance is logically futile. Kiernan reinforces this internal strife with the physical suspense of the actual war. This combination makes for a page-turning read that is equal parts war thriller and character study. The quiet confidence of Kiernan's writing makes for an exceptional read that captured both my imagination and emotions. With the addition of The Baker's Secret to his already stellar bibliography, Stephen P. Kiernan has proved that he is a master storyteller who balances emotional complexity and engaging narrative with ease.
For more information, visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads.
(2017, 19)
Showing posts with label The Hummingbird. Show all posts
The Baker's Secret by Stephen P. Kiernan
Giveaway - The Hummingbird by Stephen P. Kiernan
From the publisher William Morrow:
From the author of the acclaimed The Curiosity comes a compelling and moving story of redemption.
Deborah Birch is a seasoned hospice nurse whose daily work requires courage and compassion. but her skills and experience are tested in new and dramatic ways when her formerly easygoing husband, Michael, returns from his third deployment to Iraq haunted by nightmares, anxiety, and rage. Deborah is determined to help him heal and to restore the tender, loving marriage they once had.
At the same time, her primary patient is Barclay Reed, a retired history professor and expert on the Pacific Theater of World War II whose career ended in academic scandal. Alone in the world, the embittered professor is now dying. AS Barclay begrudgingly comes to trust Deborah, he tells her stories from that long-ago war, which guide her to find a way to help her husband battle his demons.
Told with piercing empathy and heartbreaking realism, The Hummingbird is a masterful story of loving commitment, service to country, and absolution through wisdom and forgiveness.
Read my review of The Hummingbird here!
If The Hummingbird sounds like a book you would enjoy, enter using the Rafflecopter form below. Open to US residents, no PO boxes please. Ends September 22, 2015.
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The Hummingbird by Stephen P. Kiernan
Deborah Birch is no stranger to death. As a hospice nurse, she helps people and their families to pass over with dignity, compassion, and peace. Shepherding her patients to the other side brings Deborah slices of insight about life, family, and love, all of which she relates to her own life and to those of future clients. But all of her past experiences have done little to prepare her for the challenges that she currently faces. Deborah's husband, Michael, is a war veteran who is struggling to acclimate to his life outside of the military. Three tours as a sniper in the Middle East have left him a shell of his former self and caused a rift between him and his wife. Anger issues caused from PTSD only magnify the fear and uncertainty in the couple's rocky relationship. Try as she might, Deborah can't seem to break through to the man she loves so deeply.
The challenges are only intensified when Deborah enters the home of her latest patient Barclay Reed. The former history professor is facing an incurable illness that will soon end his life. He spends his days alone in his sizable estate on the Pacific Coast, thinking back on his academic career and the disgrace that led to its demise. Ridiculous demands and an abrasive temper have made it impossible for Reed to keep a hospice nurse for more than one day at a time. As the fourth nurse from her company to attend to Reed's needs and with no surviving family to intervene, Deborah is his last hope.
Slowly, a mutual trust and understanding begins to form. Reed is a bitter and jaded old man, but underneath that hardened exterior lies a fiercely intelligent man full of knowledge and wisdom about history and life. As Deborah and Reed grow closer, they begin to share about their lives. Deborah tells him of the problems with her husband, and Reed tells her of the last book he was working on. This book, about a Japanese pilot bomber in WWII, was deemed as fabricated plagiarism by Reed's colleagues and became a scandalous end to his distinguished career. As Reed approaches his final days, he has Deborah read from this book and wills her to come to her own opinion about its validity.
Kiernan's quietly nuanced writing paints a breathtaking portrait of life, death, and human interaction. The novel alternates between the present day story of Deborah and Reed with the story of the Japanese WWII pilot seeking redemption from his actions in the war. This alternating narrative device seems to be quite popular in literary fiction these days, but can sometimes make a novel disjointed and difficult to follow. Fortunately, the two stories of this book weave effortlessly with each other as the story of the past becomes a kind of metaphor for the one that is presently unfolding. Kiernan takes what could easily have been a sappy, sentimental tale and elevates it to a deeply moving experience that will stay with you long after the final page. With this poignant novel, Kiernan eclipses the success of his previous effort and reaches a maturity that cements his place as one of the top authors writing today.
For more information, visit the author's website, Amazon, and GoodReads.
(2015, 26)
The challenges are only intensified when Deborah enters the home of her latest patient Barclay Reed. The former history professor is facing an incurable illness that will soon end his life. He spends his days alone in his sizable estate on the Pacific Coast, thinking back on his academic career and the disgrace that led to its demise. Ridiculous demands and an abrasive temper have made it impossible for Reed to keep a hospice nurse for more than one day at a time. As the fourth nurse from her company to attend to Reed's needs and with no surviving family to intervene, Deborah is his last hope.
Slowly, a mutual trust and understanding begins to form. Reed is a bitter and jaded old man, but underneath that hardened exterior lies a fiercely intelligent man full of knowledge and wisdom about history and life. As Deborah and Reed grow closer, they begin to share about their lives. Deborah tells him of the problems with her husband, and Reed tells her of the last book he was working on. This book, about a Japanese pilot bomber in WWII, was deemed as fabricated plagiarism by Reed's colleagues and became a scandalous end to his distinguished career. As Reed approaches his final days, he has Deborah read from this book and wills her to come to her own opinion about its validity.
Kiernan's quietly nuanced writing paints a breathtaking portrait of life, death, and human interaction. The novel alternates between the present day story of Deborah and Reed with the story of the Japanese WWII pilot seeking redemption from his actions in the war. This alternating narrative device seems to be quite popular in literary fiction these days, but can sometimes make a novel disjointed and difficult to follow. Fortunately, the two stories of this book weave effortlessly with each other as the story of the past becomes a kind of metaphor for the one that is presently unfolding. Kiernan takes what could easily have been a sappy, sentimental tale and elevates it to a deeply moving experience that will stay with you long after the final page. With this poignant novel, Kiernan eclipses the success of his previous effort and reaches a maturity that cements his place as one of the top authors writing today.
For more information, visit the author's website, Amazon, and GoodReads.
(2015, 26)
